Georgia quarterback Carson Beck underwent successful surgery Monday on his right elbow to repair his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), school officials announced, and he will not be available for the Bulldogs in the College Football Playoff.

Beck is expected to make a full recovery, according to the school’s release, and he will resume throwing in the spring. The surgery was performed by renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles. Beck and his parents had been consulting with different doctors and specialists to determine the best course of treatment after he was injured on the final play of the first half in second-ranked Georgia’s 22-19 overtime win against Texas in the SEC championship game Dec. 7.

Beck has not practiced with the team since that game. ESPN reported last week that Georgia has been preparing to play without Beck in the playoff since resuming practice after the SEC championship game.

Redshirt sophomore Gunner Stockton will take over as Georgia’s starting quarterback. He helped rally the Bulldogs from a 6-3 halftime deficit against the Longhorns and played the entire second half and all but the final play of overtime after Beck was sidelined. Stockton ran the ball to the 4-yard line in overtime and took a vicious hit, sending his helmet flying. He had to leave for a play, and Beck re-entered the game and handed off to Trevor Etienne for the game-winning touchdown.

Stockton finished 12-of-16 for 71 yards, no touchdowns and an interception against Texas. He was sacked twice.

The Sugar Bowl matchup against Notre Dame on Jan. 1 will be Stockton’s first career start. He has appeared in four games this season for the Bulldogs (11-2) after playing in two games the year before as a redshirt freshman.

The 6-1, 215-pound Stockton is more of a running threat than Beck, but Georgia coach Kirby Smart downplayed how that might impact the Bulldogs’ game plan against the Irish.

“You know, I think we are who we are in regards to that,” Smart told reporters. “I mean, we’ve played an entire season offensively. You know, Gunner is a good athlete. I think Carson’s a good athlete. So, it’s one of those deals that I don’t know how much it changes things.”

Beck was rated as the No. 4 quarterback prospect in the 2025 NFL draft, according to ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. The 22-year-old led the SEC with 28 touchdown passes this season and was third with 3,485 passing yards, but he also threw 12 interceptions in 13 games.

Once again, Bevo will not be making the trip to Atlanta, as the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl announced Monday that there is not enough room on the sideline in Mercedes Benz-Stadium for the Texas Longhorns mascot.

Earlier this month, Bevo was not allowed to travel to the SEC championship game, at the same venue, for the same reason. Texas faces Arizona State in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal Jan. 1.

pic.twitter.com/ZFFS6qO1QO

— Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (@CFAPeachBowl) December 23, 2024

The Peach Bowl said in a statement, “We love all of the great traditions of college football and no doubt, Bevo is one of the best, but the unfortunate reality is there is simply not enough room on the sidelines of Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

“With the constraints of the stadium and prioritizing the safety of Bevo, the players, all the network cameras, support staff, cheerleaders, and photographers, we unfortunately will not be able to have Bevo on the field.”

The 1,700-pound Bevo XV, with a horn span of 58 inches, would need a significantly sized enclosure to fit securely on the sideline. Bevo made the trip to the 2019 Sugar Bowl, where he famously came charging out of his pen toward Georgia mascot Uga.

The NCAA Division I Board of Directors on Monday approved a blanket waiver granting an additional year of eligibility to former junior college transfers in similar positions to Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, opening the door for a wave of college athletes across all sports to spend one more year in college athletics.

According to an NCAA memo, the waiver extends an extra year of eligibility in 2025-26 to athletes who previously “competed at a non-NCAA school for one or more years” and otherwise would have exhausted their NCAA eligibility following the 2024-25 season.

The decision from the NCAA comes five days after a federal judge in Tennessee granted an injunction to allow Pavia, a former junior college transfer who played his first season at Vanderbilt in 2024, to pursue an additional year of college eligibility next fall.

In its memo announcing the waiver, the NCAA also announced that it has filed a notice of appeal to the ruling in Pavia’s case.

Pavia sued the NCAA in November over its eligibility standards, arguing that the organization’s rule of counting a player’s junior college years against his overall NCAA eligibility violates antitrust laws by restricting an athlete’s ability to profit from their name, image, and likeness.

Last week’s injunction applied solely to Pavia and would have prevented the NCAA from barring the Vanderbilt quarterback from returning next fall. However, Monday’s ruling from the NCAA will now allow other athletes in similar situations — former junior college players who would have been out of eligibility following this season — to return for an additional year in 2025-26.

The waiver does not extend to all junior college athletes, only those who would have completed their NCAA eligibility this year.

Pavia’s lawsuit and the subsequent injunction have potentially paved the way for hundreds of former junior college athletes to gain an additional year of eligibility in 2025-26.

Pavia completed 59.2% of his passes for 2,133 yards and 17 touchdowns to four interceptions while leading Vanderbilt to a 6-6 finish in 2024. He joined the Commodores following two seasons at New Mexico State after beginning his college career at New Mexico Military Institute, a two-year junior college.

Under NCAA rules, athletes are typically given five years to play four seasons. Among the arguments in Pavia’s lawsuit is that the NCAA unfairly counted his time in junior college — played outside the purview of the organization — against his NCAA eligibility, and in turn limited his ability to earn money off of his name, image and likeness.

Under the new waiver, Pavia will be granted a sixth year of NCAA eligibility next fall.

Florida State wide receiver Malik Benson thought he’d used his final year of eligibility after playing for the Seminoles in 2024, Alabama in 2023 and the prior two seasons at Hutchinson Community College. He told ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Monday that he plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal in the wake of the ruling and feels blessed to have an opportunity to play one more year.

Benson and his agent had been in touch with attorney Darren Heitner, who works in the college sports space, about filing for an extra year. They had a 28-page complaint prepared, but never had to file it.

“I’m just glad that the Lord blessed me with another opportunity and another year,” Benson told Thamel. “I will not take this for granted.”

Benson is expected to be one of many who either return to school or enter the portal to take advantage of the ruling.

News surrounding the NCAA waiver and Pavia’s lawsuit comes days before Vanderbilt takes part in its first bowl game since 2018. Pavia and the Commodores will meet Georgia Tech in the Birmingham Bowl on Dec. 27 (3:30 p.m., ESPN).